Giving Compass' Take:

• Keeping gourmet meals from going into the trash not only feeds those in need, it can also improve environmental outcomes and help California reach its waste diversion goal by 2020. Food Tank highlights chefs who are doing just that. 

• How can funders raise awareness and spur action around food waste? 

• Here are 5 ways you can reduce food waste. 

With growing concern around food waste and hunger throughout the world, many chefs are taking note and looking for ways to get involved. LA&SF Specialty, a California based supplier of gourmet foods, created Chefs to End Hunger (CTEH) to prevent waste. Since 2012, CTEH has been helping get food to those who need it most in California, Nevada, and Arizona, and aims to eventually become a nationwide program. Food Tank had the chance to speak to the Program Director of CTEH, Brette Waters, about the impact it’s making in the region and why it’s important.

“Seeing the time and care that went into food preparation and the dining experience, only to have much of that food land in the trash at the end of every day, was troubling,” Waters tells Food Tank. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, nearly 40 percent of the food produced in the United States never gets eaten, and most of it ends up in landfills where it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, data from the California Association of Food Banks shows that one out of every eight Californians are food insecure and aren’t sure where their next meal will come from.

Read the full article on chefs uniting to end waste and hunger by Douglas Donnellan at Food Tank.